News archive from 26 January 2014

JUST a few days after the passing of Blue Monday, we now have Black Sunday. The marketeers and PRs who sold the idiotic idea that the third Monday in January is the most depressing of the year have a lot to answer for.
But not even the nonsensical...

A PRICE war has erupted among the UK's biggest investment platforms that will send headline charges tumbling yet result in many investors paying more for their funds.
Millions of investors hold funds through online supermarkets, or platforms, that are...

A LABOUR government would re-introduce the 50p top rate of tax, Ed Balls pledged in a keynote speech yesterday.
The shadow chancellor said he would reverse the decision taken by the coalition to reduce the amount levied on Britain’s highest earners –...

THE Bank of England should start raising interest rates immediately to help the economy adapt to the aftermath of the financial crisis, a former policymaker says.
Andrew Sentance, who was an external member of the bank’s monetary policy committee...

Under-18s will be banned from buying electronic cigarettes under new Government plans aimed at cracking down on teenage smoking.
The announcement comes as e-cigarettes are enjoying a boom in sales, with an estimated 1.3 million people in the UK...

BRITAIN'S banks could face severe financial penalties for breaching data security rules if they do not upgrade the ageing software that runs virtually every cash machine, a US regulator has warned.
Some 95 per cent of the world’s cash machines are...

TUMBLING unemployment, a sharp IMF forecast upgrade for the UK, a buoyant CBI survey on manufacturing and a notable improvement in the public finances: after this slew of truly positive news, what could upset this applecart of goodies? What are the...

Salt of the earth: Julie Walters has complained that the working class are being squeezed out of the acting profession. Photograph: Richard Saker Last week the actor Stephen McGann spoke out about how difficult it is for young people from...

GLOBAL stock markets are likely to open nervously this week as traders assess the damage of political mismanagement and over-optimistic growth forecasts in emerging markets that prompted Friday's sell-off.
It has long been a given that the developing...

Samora Roberts, known as 'Black Dee', putting leaflets on her house windows after the showing of Benefits Street. Photograph: Christopher Thomond for the Observer "Black Dee" from the TV documentary Benefits Street is among a number of...

Doctor knows best. Or does she? Photograph: Alamy It is sobering to see how quickly patient autonomy could morph into patient blaming. Professor David Haslam, chairman of the NHS rationing body, the National Institute of Health and Care Excellence...

Opinion is divided about how to ensure economic recovery - and whether Federal Reserve chairman Janet Yellen is tough enough for the job, writes Kristy Dorsey
WHEN she appeared before the US Senate banking panel in November, Janet Yellen knew she was...

An employee checks e-cigarettes at a production line in a factory in China. Photograph: Tyrone Siu/Reuters Ministers will seek to ban the sale of e-cigarettes to children under 18 this week and make it illegal for adults to buy e-cigarettes for...